Before Marxism was adopted as a basis for revolution in Russia, it gained currency in Europe, particularly in England. William Morris, inspired by Man's thinking and a friend of his daughter Eleanor, became one of the greatest socialist revolutionary activists in England. He began his career in the mid- eighteenth century as a Gothic revival architect before turning his attention to interior design. He rejected industrial manufacturing and pioneered the Arts and Craft Movement, calling for a return to traditional hand craftsmanship and the elevation of the artisan's status to that of the artist. He became a pattern designer for wallpapers, ceramic tiles, stained glass, textiles and other interior decorations and also gained an expertise in textile weaving, dying, printing and embroidery.

He was also a recognised oil painter, although his only surviving easel painting La Belle Iseult is exhibited at London's Tate Gallery. Morris also famously designed typefaces and book decorations to emulate the traditional publishing methods of the fifteenth century. In fact he started his own publishing house, the Kelmscott Press, which during its short lifespan became one of the most reputed specialist presses in the country. Inspired by the medieval writers he published, Morris himself made tremendous contributions to the world of literature. He was the first of the Pre-Raphaelite poets, and published many volumes of poetry throughout his life. As a novelist, Morris pioneered the fantasy fiction genre, and his novels such as News from Nowhere and The Wood beyond the World were said to have influenced subsequent writers such as James Joyce and J.R.R. Tolkien. When he died aged 62, his physician declared that the cause was"simply being William Morris, and having done more work than most ten men'. Morris gradually understood toward the end of his life that, despite his efforts, a revolution was not going to happen in his lifetime. His novels were a way to express his utopian vision.

  One of the key figures of what became known as the Weimar Romanticism movement, Goethe is believed to be one of the all-time greats in world literature. But in addition to his hugely popular novels, plays and poems, he also made significant advances in the scientific disciplines of biology, botany and physics, while also having been a successful lawyer, courtier and philosopher. Goethe began his career as a draughtsman and watercolourist, also nurturing a strong interest in theatre and literature.

 He enrolled to study law in Leipzig and worked on a number of important cases before becoming an adviser at the court of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, where he held many positions including that of a military adviser during the failed invasion of France and the Siege of Mainz. Throughout this time Goethe pursued his passion for literature, producing hugely popular novels, poems and plays. His poetry was set to music by almost every major Austrian and German composer from Mozart to Mahler. His style served as a model of a movement in German poetry termed Innerlichkeit (Intro-version). His novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werthers), a romantic tragedy, became a bestseller and paved the way for the early phase of Romanticism. As a playwright, Goethe enjoyed enormous success, particularly after his 1808 epic closet drama Faust Part One. The philosophical, psychological and political implications of the play had a profound impact on the German people and it soon became recognised as one of the greatest feats in German literature. Faust Part Two was only finished in the year of his death, and was published posthumously.

It was Goethe's outstanding work in the sciences, however, that cements his legend as a polymathic genius. His first major scientific contribution was in biology. Through extensive research, Goethe made observations about the continuous metamorphosis of living things, particularly plants. This branch of biology would later be called homology, and would be used over a century later by Charles Darwin in compiling his theory of evolution. Goethe then turned his attention to theoretical physics, publishing his Theory of Colours in 1810, in which he proposed that colour arises from the dynamic interplay of light, darkness and turbidity. This is considered by many - and indeed by Goethe himself - as being his most important work, above and beyond even his work in literature. He also took a keen interest in minerology, and the mineral goethite (iron oxide) is named after him. Goethe was also a prominent philosopher. His philosophy derived from his work in both literature and the sciences, and was greatly influenced by his intellectual friendship with Wilhelm Schiller. He became a pioneer of German Romanticism.

...described by BBC Radio 3 as a ‘woman of many guises’, was one of the main librarians in Cordoba, as well as al Hakam’sprivate secretary who was charged with traveling the Islamic world to source and acquire the finest books of the empire. According to the famous Andalucian scholar Ibn Bashkuw!l:

‘She excelled in writing, grammar, and
poetry. Her knowledge of mathematics was also immense and she was proficient in other sciences as well. There were none in the Umayyad palace as noble as her’.

Some historians found it so difficult to accept that a female polymath could exist in the Muslim world that theories of her being multiple women began to spread..

Considered by many historians to be one of the defining figures of the French Enlightenment as well as the Revolution. This is because Beaumarchais’s life, which became exemplary of the boundlessness of
the French Enlightenment, was an adventurous one steeped in action: he was a masterful watchmaker, musician to the French royal family, businessman, diplomat and spy during the American Revolution and then one of the most successful playwrights of his time.Considered by many historians to be one of the defining figures of the French Enlightenment as well as the Revolution. This is because Beaumarchais’s life, which became exemplary of the boundlessness of
the French Enlightenment, was an adventurous one steeped in action: he was a masterful watchmaker, musician to the French royal family, businessman, diplomat and spy during the American Revolution and then one of the most successful playwrights of his time.

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